Urbanization Urbanization l l l Between 1870 1900

Urbanization

Urbanization l l l Between 1870 -1900: US urban population soared from 10 million to 30 million NYC: 800, 000 in 1860, 3. 5 million in 1900 Chicago: 109, 000 in 1860, 1. 6 million in 1900 Immigrants tended to stay in cities Many poor farmers moved to cities for better paying jobs Many freed slaves migrated to northern cities to seek new opportunities

Appeal of Cities l More jobs available l Electric lighting l Running water and sewer l Abundance of goods l Variety of leisure activities

Adult Entertainment l l Vaudeville Theater: collection of acts, including dancers, singers, acrobats, comedians, etc. (similar to “America’s Got Talent” but without judges) Dance Halls: large venues with live bands playing dance music Cabarets: bars or nightclubs which offered musical entertainment Saloons: neighborhood bars where working men ate, drank, talked politics and discussed current events

Family Entertainment Museums l Libraries l Amusement Parks: NYC’s Coney Island became a resort area after Civil War, first “attraction” was a carousel that opened in 1876 l Spectator sports: Boxing, horse racing, wrestling, professional baseball l

Skyscrapers As cities became more crowded, space became more valuable l Inventions like highquality steel and the Otis elevator made going higher the most practical solution l Chicago architect Louis Sullivan generally credited with pioneering the “skyscraper” l

Home Insurance Building l l l l Chicago Built in 1885 First to have a steel frame 10 stories (138 ft. ) 2 floors added later Designed by William Le. Baron Jenney (who trained Louis Sullivan) Demolished in 1931 because it was too small and wasted space!

Tallest Modern Buildings

Public Parks

Frederick Law Olmstead 1822 – 1903 l Landscape architect l Designed many major urban green-spaces, including Central Park in NYC and parks in Chicago, Washington DC, and other cities l Also designed the grounds at Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC l

Mass transit l l l Horsecars: railroad car pulled along tracks by horses Cable cars: railroad car pulled along tracks by underground cables (San Francisco, 1873) Electric trolley car: developed in 1887 by Frank J. Sprague, first used in Richmond, VA Elevated railroads: Used in Chicago starting in 1892 Subways: Boston in 1897, NYC in 1904 Major bridges, such as NYC’s Brooklyn Bridge (1883)

Changes in Shopping l l Bold new forms of advertising products, using large, illustrated ads in newspapers & magazines Department stores: John Wannamaker’s Grand Depot in Philadelphia Chain stores: Woolworth’s (1879) Mail-order catalogs: Montgomery Ward, Sears Roebuck

Upper Class “High Society” l Wealthiest families, primarily industrialists like the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts l Built palatial houses, clustered in downtown districts l

Middle-Class Gentility Doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects, managers, teachers l Lived in “streetcar suburbs” on edges of cities l Average salary = $1100/year l

The Working Class l 75% of urban population l Lived in tenement housing within easy walking distance of the industrial district l Average salary = $445/year

Urban problems Violent crime: murder rate jumped 400% between 1880 and 1900; rate today is about ½ the rate of US in 1900 l Pollution: especially of drinking water, but also of land air l Disease: cholera, typhoid l Fire: Chicago (1871), Boston (1872), Baltimore (1904), San Francisco (1906, caused by earthquake) l

Tenements Small, extremely crowded apartment buildings l Whole families often lived in just one room, sometimes with only a single window for air l Up to a dozen families might share a single bathroom l Buildings were unsafe – hard to escape in a fire, little fresh air and close quarters led to spread of disease l

Jacob Riis l l l 1849 – 1914 Danish immigrant, social reformer, journalist, photographer Wrote How the Other Half Lives (1890) Documented horrors of life in the slums & tenements Blamed alcohol for many of society’s ills

Jane Addams & the Social Gospel l l 1860 – 1935 Founded Hull House, a settlement house in Chicago First woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize “Social Gospel”: idea that Christians have a moral responsibility to fix society’s problems & help the less fortunate

Settlement Houses Most famous settlement house = Chicago’s Hull House l Middle class “settlers” moved into working class neighborhoods to help provide education, meals, childcare, medical care, and general advice to immigrants and poor workers l